The U.S. Department of Justice has approved district boundaries for Chatham County Commission and the local school board.
There’s just one problem: The county already has held qualifying to run for the commission and the board, using the old districts.
County Attorney Jonathan Hart said the two governing bodies likely will hold upcoming elections in the old districts and use the new ones for future ones.
County elections supervisor Russell Bridges didn’t disagree, but said he’ll “seek the guidance” of the Secretary of State’s office, which supervises elections in Georgia.
It makes a difference; some would-be candidates are ineligible — depending on which map is used — because they don’t live in the district where they want to run.
Justice Department approval was still pending when qualifying was held — as scheduled by the state — from May 23-25.
After each decennial census, new boundaries are required to reflect population shifts. Federal law says the department must approve new boundaries in states which, like Georgia, have a history of racial discrimination.
Due to partisan wrangling, the legislature didn’t approve new ones until the end of this year’s session. Gov. Nathan Deal signed them into law April 6.
The department had 90 days to act after all information was submitted. Local officials hadn’t heard it when qualifying began.
But the law approving the new boundaries said the old ones would be used if the department hadn’t approved them when qualifying began.
“Russ is doing the right thing to run it by the Secretary of State, but I think we’re going to be OK,” Hart said.